Google

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Internet Marketing SEO Consulting, Is It A Smart Investment for Your Website

The concept of using an expert SEO Consultant company to help rank your website in the major search engines like Google, Yahoo, and MSN definitely has a slight intrigue.

Having a Internet Marketing SEO Consulting service taking care or even training your staff in proper site analysis, keyword research, link building, site optimization as well as putting together an ethical strategy indeed does have a price.

Is this investment into your website or online business worth it to you?

Why would need a SEO Consulting couldn’t you learn this process yourself?

You definitely could learn the process of Internet Marketing SEO. After studying how the process works, implementing the techniques learned, understanding what strategy works best for your industry, testing, and understanding and correcting mistakes made along the way.

Staying on top of the frequent changes in the search industry and realizing that what worked today may not work tomorrow.

How would you like to avoid time consuming and even costly mistakes that slow down your online business growth?

What if you could have the Internet Marketing SEO sides of things taken care of why you concentrate and focus your time on what aspects you know best about your business?

SEO Specialist have already made the mistakes and have the know how to correct errors. They tend to understand Internet Marketing changes and how to counter them. SEO experts also have the experience in putting together as well as implementing what will work right the first time.

SEO Consulting is a type of service that tends to continue to pay for itself long after the techniques, tools, promotion, and overall search engine marketing has been put into place.

The possibility of your website receiving the benefits years after the initial investment is what makes SEO consulting a business decison that prove to be a smart one.

There are things to consider when looking for an SEO Consultant like whether there website ranks for industry terms themselves and whether or not they are employing ethical practices. Spaming may get your site banned so be sure to ask questions before you decide after all this is an investment into your business so you want to be sure that it will benefit you not damage you.

There are low cost SEO Consulting service options you may want to consider like looking for an up and comer into the Search Engine Marketing industry. These young hungry professionals are looking to make a name for themselves and may cost more than half the price of a veteran. Although there are disadvantages when choosing a new comer like experience but there talents should not be overlooked.

You invest in your business every day from your time to the decisions you make to promote your business like platforms such as: Newspapers, Television, Magazines, Radio yet some of the biggest returns on your investment may be still waiting for you on the Internet and in Search Engines.

Saturday, October 28, 2006

SEO Book’s New SEM Glossary

Steven Bradley
Expert Author
Published: 2006-10-26
In case you missed it Aaron Wall added a rather comprehensive search engine marketing glossary to his SEO Book site.
I'd be lying if I told you I read through the whole glossary, but from what I have read it looks to be very useful, particularly to anyone new to search engine optimization and marketing. It's not the kind of thing you'll read in one sitting, though. Aaron was also nice enough to release his glossary under the creative commons license.

You'll find definitions from 200 to Zeal and many more in between. Aaron's even been kind enough to link to more than a dozen other glossaries and dictionaries in case there's something missing here or you're looking for another point of view.
You'll find entries for things you might not have considered in terms of search marketing, though they will often be defined from the perspective of a practicing SEO. Entires such as:
Thesaurus
Synonym directory search engines use to help increase return relevancy.
Thesaurus tools can also be used as a keyword research tool to help search marketers find related keywords to target.
And of course there will be many more entries defining a specific search marketing term like:
Proximity
A measure of how close words are to one another.
A page which has words near one another may be deemed to be more likely to satisfy a search query containing both terms. If keyword phrases are repeated an excessive number of times, and the proximity is close on all the occurrences of both words it may also be a sign of unnatural (and thus potentially low quality) content.
I hope everyone will take a look since there's a lot of information to be learned here as well as a glimpse into how one of the top SEOs thinks and defines many common and not so common search terms. I'll certainly be reading through the search engine marketing glossary more in depth. Probably in chunks as it really is quite a lot of information to try to digest all at once. I'd encourage anyone to take a look and for those new to SEO you can probably learn more from this one very long page than you will in scouring the web for the next couple of months.

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Cattledriver.com Gets Personal With Personal SEO

Cattledriver.com Gets Personal With Personal SEO

SME's find budget relief with low competitive pricing strategies.


For Immediate Release

FT LAUDERDALE, Fla./EWORLDWIRE/Aug. 23, 2006 --- As search engine optimization (SEO) consumes more of a marketing professional's day, the functions it encompasses reach far beyond those of traditional firms that charge upwards of thousands of dollars monthly for services. Top-rated company Cattledriver.com has once again moved ahead of the trend with its new SEO Program - Personal SEO.

"Every company has unique SEO needs. The personalized professional solution offered by Cattledriver offers a better ROI on SEO," said Charlie Artner, managing director. "At our price point of $300 a month, we blow away any semblance of competition."

As SEO grows to incorporate press releases, PPC management, building link partners and Web analytics, Cattledriver covers every spectrum of SEO and let customers design their own programs so they get what they pay for.

Through Cattledriver's Personal SEO program, customers can choose from search engine optimization, paid inclusion feeds, pay per click management, web site interface design,
press releases, link popularity and any other customized
SEO needs.

Cattledriver LLC is a leading provider in performance-based
Web marketing. Since 2000 Cattledriver has created
diverse Web software for Internet vendors to maximize
their Internet stores.


HTML: http://newsroom.eworldwire.com/releases/15342
PDF: http://newsroom.eworldwire.com/pdf/15342.pdf
ONLINE NEWSROOM: http://newsroom.eworldwire.com/305633.htm
NEWSROOM RSS FEED: http://newsroom.eworldwire.com/xml/newsrooms/305633.xml
LOGO: http://newsroom.eworldwire.com/305633.htm


CONTACT:
Charlie Artner
Cattledriver LLC
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33306
PHONE. 800-408-3413
EMAIL: cdriver@cattledriver.com
http://www.cattledriver.com


SOURCE: Cattledriver, LLC

Thursday, August 03, 2006

No SEO Without SEM, And Vice Versa

Today’s MediaPost (reg. req’d) reports on new data from SEM firm 360i, which essentially points out the complex conversion path and symbiotic relationship between paid and unpaid links. This study is a complement to one released in May by the firm that showed the value of branded and generic ads in the purchase cycle.

Both studies show that there are lots of clicks and consumers use branded and non-branded terms, organic and paid links in their process. The “meta-communication” of the research is that marketers must be present at every stage of the buying cycle reflected in search user behavior and must employ a range of strategies to gain consumer awareness and reinforce it.

Another point that both studies make is that marketers give too much credit to the “last click.” I agree. Marketers need to see the entire path online through the “purchase cycle” - really a version of Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride - in order to maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of their online campaigns.

Dave Williams, co-founder of 360i, will be among a panel of other illustrious search marketers that I’m moderating at Search Engine Strategies next week. Here’s the line up:

Monday, June 26, 2006

SEO/SEM Journal: Simmons Announces Creation of New Online Research Services Group

Simmons Online Links Custom Online Research with its National Consumer Study

"Simmons Online will leverage Simmons patented behavioral integration technology and other Experian data assets and tools to combine the speed and agility of online data collection with Simmons high standards and scientific approach to market research," the company says.

"Focusing on its core offerings, Simmons Online will link custom online research with its National Consumer Study (NCS) allowing clients to access proprietary data along with more than 50,000 additional data variables within the NCS. Additionally, Simmons Online is producing a series of syndicated extensions to the NCS with an automotive product introduction this August. Moving forward, linkages to Simmons Hispanic, Youth and Local Market products will be available," the company added.

“Simmons Online initiates a new era for “need-it-yesterday” quality research within Simmons” said Chris Wilson, president and COO of Simmons Research. “Simmons’ experience at conducting high quality tracking panels and custom research is now joined with state-of-the-art online study capabilities that extend our evolution from more then 56 years of research innovation.”

Simmons Online accesses Experian’s pool of over 24 million permission-based on-line responders to create highly targeted online samples with high yields. “With over 4,000 fields of respondent provided information coupled with propensities against Simmons’ 50,000 plus variables, Simmons Online offers online researchers the most intriguing targeting options available in online research,” continued Wilson. “Offering complex sample designs, statistically representative data and “projection models” and the ability to instantly screen panel respondents via Experian’s real time verification system, Simmons Online is setting the standard for high quality online research.”

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

What's the Difference Between Websites and Weblogs

More and more, people don't have traditional websites: static things where pages can be added, updated or taken away. Instead, they write new material for their website when they feel like it, and then put it up on one page, with the most recent writing first. These people are running weblogs.

How Did Weblogs Start?

Many people say that there have been weblogs (or blogs, as they're sometimes called) for as long as there has been a web. Back when there were only a few thousand websites, the 'What's New' page that announced each new one (yes, there really was such a thing!) worked in just the same way as blogs do today.

Early weblogs included Scripting News, Robot Wisdom and Camworld, which all started in 1997. To begin with, blogs mostly consisted of often-updated lists of useful and amusing links to other websites, but it gradually became clear that the format was just as good for distributing longer articles. Blog software started to be developed, and their popularity quickly exploded. By 1999, everyone was talking about blogs.

Why are Blogs So Popular?

In recent years, the blog format has very much taken over from the 'personal home page'. People seem to find it much easier to just put a kind of public diary online, instead of putting up a little biography of themselves and a collection of articles. It's more personal, more fun, and more interactive day-to-day.

Businesses have started to open blogs too – in many ways, they're like a replacement for newsletters. A regularly-updated blog gives customers a great sense of what a business is like, while giving the business a great way to keep communicating with its customers and being useful to them, even when they're not buying anything right this minute.

In my opinion, the biggest reason for blogs' popularity is that they make publishing to the web very easy. You don't really have to know anything about what's happening behind the scenes: blogs finally make publishing your thoughts for everyone to see as easy as posting to a forum or sending an email. In a way, blogs fulfil the original promise of the web.

Weblog Software.

Today, there's a lot of blog software out there – if you want a blog, you're spoiled for choice. What you get will depend on how comfortable you are with technical stuff, and whether you want it to be part of your main website or not.

Movable Type. This is software that you install on your web server. You simply log in and type your post, and it creates your pages for you. Movable Type can be a little complex to set up, but you can use a version called Typepad that is hosted by its creators instead of using your server.

Blogger. You don't install Blogger on your server – instead, you give it your FTP password and let it upload files to your web server for you. If you don't have any hosting, you can also host blogs for free at Blogger's Blogspot. Blogger is owned by Google.

WordPress. WordPress is a free alternative to blogging software. It works in basically the same way as Movable Type, but without the restrictive licensing and with nicer-looking default templates. Many people have switched to WordPress out of frustration with Movable Type and not looked back. You have to host it on your own server, but it's very simple to set up – don't be scared!

LiveJournal. LiveJournal is a completely online service, meaning that it has nothing to do with your website, except that you can link to your LiveJournal if you want. LiveJournal is more social than most blogging, allowing you to join communities relating to your interest.

There are plenty of other online services, but they're all pretty much the same: MSN Spaces, AOL Journals, and so on. You're unlikely to get taken very seriously if you have a blog at any of these places, although it'd be easy. In the end, it's all about power versus convenience: the more work you put in to get your blog working, the more likely that it's going to be what you really wanted it to be. If you're creating a website anyway, you'd be silly not to put a blog on it.

Thursday, June 01, 2006

E-Commerce Explained

By: Ken Charnly

E-Commerce is way of doing business transactions electronically. The first wave of doing business was exchange of information. The word electronically here in this context means that in E-Commerce business transactions gets completed via electronic medium. This electronic medium mostly uses computers on Internet. The transaction may also be done through mobile that is mobile then it is mobile commerce. Mobile commerce is a subset of E-Commerce.

Several simple example of E-Commerce includes:
An individual purchases a book on Internet
An individual withdraws funds from ATM
A retailer orders merchandise using an EDI network or suppliers extranet
An individual or business calls a toll free number and orders the requirements using the seller’s interactive telephone system.
A manager orders office supplies for his office using Internet on a commercial website to seller.
An employee reserves a ticket for airline or railways or if he reserves a room in a hotel using the Internet by surfing the related website using a few clicks of mouse.

Complex example may include:
A student visits the website of a bookstore on Internet and makes inquiries about the availability of an out of stock book. The bookstore employee downloads the digital copy of book and prints it along with cover. Until and unless agreement to purchase on this computer mediated network does not occur there is no E-Commerce transaction.

Factors which mainly affect E-Commerce transactions are:
Capital Availability: There should be sufficient source of capital available with Internet based companies so that the can handle their business transactions in a comfortable manner without doing any delay for payments.

Technology: The technology being used by the Internet based companies affects the business. Companies doing E-Commerce transactions should armed themselves with latest and largely acceptable technologies because outdated technologies can bring unpredictable, disastrous and hazardous results and can ruin their businesses. Example:
If a person is doing electronic transactions but the antivirus that he is using is of older version which is neither able to detect nor stop the entry of newest viruses. Now as a result of which it is possible that some virus may creep into local file system of operating system without user knowledge and permission and will look for important account information like username of soma accounts and password etc and then can pass this vital information to the virus creator. This will enable these virus creators to enter into users account without his knowledge and permission and commit thefts like cases. So it is advised to every user involved in electronic transaction to use the latest released versions of antivirus and antivirus should be a reputed one in market like Norton and PC Cillin etc.

Language: Many E-Commerce innovations originate in US and thus language mostly used is English. So people who are not very fluent in English and do not possess good communication skills will not be able to complete E-Commerce transactions comfortably.
Attitude: To facilitate E-Commerce requires possessing of an attitude that is open to change, innovation etc. People should be able to accept E-Commerce transactions over manual handling of transactions.

Friday, May 26, 2006

Building eCommerce Store With Outsourcing Companies

Each year, more and more people are taking plunge into online purchasing. And more and more businesses are going online also. Why is this so?

Let’s take first the buyers’ perspective. Purchasing through the internet gives buyers the opportunity to buy alternative products, reduced time in sorting out products, and less time in resolving invoice and order discrepancies. Above all, they don’t have to go out of where they are. They just have to wait for their purchased products right at their doorsteps.

For the companies, think about these benefits. Companies who engage in eCommerce have the ability to expand its geographical reach, it can acquire customers from other countries. Being in eCommerce increases visibility for the company also. What more? Your store never closes! Even at 2:00 am, buyers can still go to your site.

One goal of a business organization is to maximize profit at the least cost. Being into eCommerce helps reduce labor costs as this reduces time and number of personnel required for the business to continue its operations, and expenses such as documentation, overtime, mail preparation, among others. Moreover, having an online store helps reduce delivery time resulting to more customer satisfaction.

Now, unless one of you in your company knows how to do this, who will you hire to build an eCommerce store for your company? Going back to the topic of being cost-effective, leasing a webmaster from an outsourcing company would be the most likely alternative for the company.

Hiring a webmaster agent from a staff leasing company gives the company who wants to go online several advantages. The biggest benefit the company could get would be having educated staff to work for it at the least price the company could spend. Most webmaster staffing companies put up their offices in countries with low living costs to be able to reduce also their expenses, thereby, charging low service fees to those who want to get their services. Companies who want to put up an online shop could also have access to the best webmasters as staff leasing companies try to get only the best from the pool of applicants vying for the job.

One more thing. It would also be for your company’s gain if you get a webmaster agent who gets to work for you full time. This way, all his efforts will be for your company’s good. Outsourcing companies like Agents of Value can pull these things off for you. Let us help you build your eCommerce store!

Article Source: http://www.articles-galore.com

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

All Backlinks Are Not Created Equal

By: Anthony Kristovich III

Ok, we all know backlinks are a huge part of determining your site worth to most search engines. Each backlink to your site is a vote for it. Backlinks are the building blocks of SEO itself. We'll look into what should be on your mind as you are acquiring backlinks.

The first intuition is to see how many you can get. That's just one piece of the whole backlink pie. Search engines like Googlehave been around time and have a lot of brilliant minds working for them. A higher quality backlink is worth more towards higher search engine rankings.

Some things to consider about backlinks:
1. Age affects all backlinks. Google specifically weighs a backlink more with age. Backlinks gain in weight over time until after around 6 months they reach their full weight. Basically, it means that the effort you do building backlinks will be worth more and more.

2. Anchor text is hugely important. The words on the backlink itself from the other site also play into it appears the other site views your site. When the keywords you are optimizing for are used, the link gains a much higher quality. The thing to watch out for here is that the text is varying. Google picks up on when all of you backlinks have the same exact text.

3. Getting backlinks from sites with the same theme as yours will benefit you much more than non-relevant sites. This makes sense since a link to your health food site from a car site about old Mustangs isn't going to do much for a visitor, so it won't for Google either.

4. The better the reputation or Page Rank of a site that links to you, the higher quality it is. Fairly obvious. If CNN or Slashdot linked to you, that one backlink would likely outweigh all your other backlinks together.

5. The physical location of a backlink on the page can also be a noteable factor for search engines. Google in particular lends more weight to links the higher towards the top of the page. If there is surrounding content the links appear more natural so they are valued higher.

Reciprocal links are always the hot topic when talking SEO. The truth is, reciprocal linksare still alive and going well. Reciprocal links between websites with similar themes is natural and expected. Though I have read many many times of claims that reciprocal linking is dead, rest assured that quality reciprocal links are not going away anytime soon. Google for instance has its sights set on backlinks that were bought, and from link farms where 5 minutes after paying some money you have thousands of sites pointing to yours.

While there are many other factors such as the age of your websiteand how much content is on your website, those will be left to another article.

Backlinks are indeed the cornerstone of getting a websiteestablished on the Internet. Without enough backlinks visitors won't know your site exists, and search engines will put little weight to your website resulting in a further loss of potential traffic, which could make or break your site. The key is to go out knowing what backlinks you want and spend enough time to make your site known. Properly setup, your backlinks will keep your site popular with visitors for a long time to come.

Saturday, May 06, 2006

Using Mini Web Sites For Promotions And Profits

By: Edward Rizzo

If you are looking to earn money working from home, Mini Web Sites are a great way to run your own business. Usually these are simple one or two page sites that are designed for selling a single product. They are a great way to offer a limited time offer and a great way to promote an affiliate program.

A mini site is basically a sales letter that is designed to
convert viewers into buyers, it is not there to provide detailed information about the product. This type of site can attract more viewers, which means more sales and more money for you. The time it takes to set up a mini website is very short. I have created 4 mini websites in one day

You could set up a few at a time with a couple different products. Make it a limited time offer, add a nice complimentary bonus and do a couple of little ads and a mailing to your list. Or, you can use it as a ‘Squeeze Page”. A squeeze page is nothing more than a simple website that has some very useful information directly related to the affiliate program you are promoting.

Use the page as a teaser. Put some very good, very useful information on your ‘squeeze page‘. This will get your readers and potential customers interested. Next, make sure you have a sign up box on the page. A place for your visitor to put there name and email address. They now become your lead. Now, have a report ready relating to the information on your site that you can send your new ‘leads’.

In this report point out all the benefits and features of your product that your promoting. Make sure you have the link to your affiliate program in that report. Try to have the link in there at least twice without making too obvious. Whatever you do, don’t make your report a pushy sales page. This will only scare your potential customer away.

Use these steps to create your mini websites.

- Find a profitable niche.
- Determine the best product to sell for that niche.
- Write a well crafted ad.
- Design a landing page or Squeeze Page

Make sure you do not include banners or other
advertising, these might distract the attention of your visitors, your only focus should be on selling your product.

Design a Mini Web Site
Each site should sell only one product and be optimized for just that product. Select keywords based on your product, that are popular enough to attract the amount of traffic you will need to make your site profitable, and always use your keywords in the title, heading tags, and graphic alt tags. Create an easy to use order form, one that is fast to fill out, you do not want to lose customers because it takes too much time or is too much trouble
to purchase your product.
.
Whatever you sell, start by quickly describing that particular product and keep your focus tight on that product. Try to pre sell your product by including several endorsements from people who are happy about using your product. After the endorsements, include several free bonuses to get your visitors even more excited about buying. Be careful not to have your bonuses over shadow your original product. Bonuses should also compliment your product as mentioned above.

To host your site look for a reliable hosting service, one that has a good track record for minimal down time. Use a host that allows multiple or unlimited sub domains.

Your mini website could actually be a sub domain of your main site. This will save you a good chunk of money in hosting fees. Select a domain name that includes your keywords this will also help your search engine rankings and get you more traffic.

Some benefits of Mini Sites are:
- Easier to optimize for search engine rankings.
- Inbound links to your sites will lead to a higher Google Page Rank.
- You can be an expert at whatever you sell or whatever service you offer.
- Higher traffic generated than regular web sites.

Mini sites are the easiest way to make some quick money because they do not require a large setup cost, and they are easy to design. All you need is a great idea and you are ready to make some money. There are also many software products that can churn out these mini websites very quickly and you don’t have to know html code to build them.

Online Marketing Success Secrets : Online Marketing

By: jim mack

What if I could show you How To create wealth on-line in the next 24 hours?

Would you be interested?

Of course you would! After all, we'll all aspiring to that end result. However, the point of this article isto show you the advertising power of the word *HOW*.
The first question that you were presented with in this article demonstrates the power of the word *How*. Let's take look another again.

Just think about it for a moment. As on-line marketers we are all searching for answers to our on-line problems/questions. We're all seeking the *How To* to get the solutions to our specific situation.

The words “How To create” taken from that sentence are really what kept you reading. You just can't resist the combination of *How To*. It creates an irresistible trigger in your subconscious mind that you just can't resist.

Here's a little test that you can try out on your spouse. Walk right up to him/her and say "Let me show you *How To* do this.” I'll bet you will get a reaction. Watch out though. It might not be the reaction that you were looking for!

Now here's the *Real Magic*. The word *How* becomes a real trigger when use in combination with other trigger words. The most powerful word in advertising of any kind is the word *you*. Here's the killer combination ("How You"). Man, that's powerful!

I was reading though a business opportunity magazine recently when I came across a full-page ad that caught my eye. Here are the *How* word combinations that were included in this one ad.

"Multi-Millionaire's 7-Step 'How-To' Success System"
"How To Make and Keep $1,000,000!"
"How You can use this proven..."
"How to use the awesome potential..."
"How You can take advantage....."
"How To turn product users......"
"Discover How You can use this...."

I'd bet he received a ton of responses from that ad alone. Power marketing requires powerful words and word combinations to be effective. Why not include these two trigger words in your web page headers, classified ads and headlines?

It's no great secret that you only have a few precious seconds to capture someone's attention with your written ad headlines, web page content or classified ads. As your prospects scan though your materials you must include trigger words or phrases that *catch* their attention. Once the *catch* is accomplished you
are then given an opportunity to drive home your message.

Using the *How You* word combination is perfect *bait* for creating that trigger that you need to hook them and "pull them in". It's personal (You) and also captivating (How). Use *How You* as a building block for creating all of your advertising materials. It's powerful and it works!

They just might increase your on-line profits though the roof!

BTW:

The next time someone ask you a question,
just answer with the word *HOW?*.

The Techniques of Cross Promotion : SEO Techniques

By: Kathryn Wozniak

Cross promotions are not a new idea. They have been used by businesses for a very long time. For example, a real-estate company may promote a certain lawyer to close a sale, as the lawyer will promote that agency in his firm. A client may receive a booklet for free car washes when they buy a new car and the car wash puts up posters of the new models of cars that dealer has available.

The system is somewhat similar to the primitive barter system, where people traded items rather than using money. How can anything primitive fit into the online world of Internet marketing? Very easily. Cross promotions are, simply stated, a trade of advertising space. Instead of paying for advertising space on a site, you would place their ad on your page and yours on theirs.

There are many ways to use cross promotions in your internet business that can be an effective and cost efficient way to advertise.

One way is to use link exchanges. This is very effective when doing cross promotions with a company that is similar to yours, however you should be sure and never link to a page that is in direct competition with yours.

One of the best things about link exchanges is that some search engines are factoring in hits from the sites that are linked to your page to when determining the ranking. Therefore linking to a more popular site, can not only increase your advertising, and traffic, but also increase your search engine ranking.

When customers or potential customers subscribe to your ezine you can use this as an opportunity to use cross promotions. On the same page that the customer subscribes to your ezine, make available the opportunity to subscribe to another company’s ezine. You can even exchange ad space in ezines, and provide recommendations for those whom you cross promote with. You might even want to exchange column space in one another’s ezines.

Writing free articles that inform customers or potential customers with information that is useful
and accurate can create a reputation for you and your business. Soon readers will come to know you as an expert on the subject. In these articles the author uses a byline to help promote his site. Bylines can be a way to use cross promotions as well. You can use part of the space in your byline to recommend another’s product.

If you have been considering writing an ebook, a joint venture could mean increased profits for you and the person you are partnering with. Cross promotions through ebooks are an excellent way to allow for a wider topic and to promote both your business and your partner’s business. The ebook should contain information that will benefit both businesses and still be helpful to the reader.

A good example of using cross promotions through an ebook is to a site selling used video games partnering with a site selling gaming devices. These are two subjects that would interest the same reader and most likely lead the reader to both sites.

You should keep in mind that the recommendations that you make are a direct reflection of you, so choose your cross promotional businesses carefully. Know the person and the products reputation before you consider putting your company’s good name to theirs.

Also keep in mind that it would be nice as a shopper to be able to link from one site to another as a way to “shop around.“ Since this is usually not beneficial to you, never link or recommend a site that is in direct competition with you. Instead, recommend those who are similar, such as health and life insurance. If you ave a jewelry site you could link with a clothing site.

You can also cross promote yourself if you have several products or services that you offer. For instance you can offer a free ebook when the customer buys your software or service. You could offer an upgrade with the purchase of a certain product.

Remember your goal is to make sales for yourself and the best way to do it is to gain your customers confidence. This will go a long way towards your success.

What's the Difference Between Websites and Weblogs?

By: Gregg Hall

More and more, people don't have traditional websites: static things where pages can be added, updated or taken away. Instead, they write new material for their website when they feel like it, and then put it up on one page, with the most recent writing first. These people are running weblogs.

How Did Weblogs Start?

Many people say that there have been weblogs (or blogs, as they're sometimes called) for as long as there has been a web. Back when there were only a few thousand websites, the 'What's New' page that announced each new one (yes, there really was such a thing!) worked in just the same way as blogs do today.

Early weblogs included Scripting News, Robot Wisdom and Camworld, which all started in 1997. To begin with, blogs mostly consisted of often-updated lists of useful and amusing links to other websites, but it gradually became clear that the format was just as good for distributing longer articles. Blog software started to be developed, and their popularity quickly exploded. By 1999, everyone was talking about blogs.

Why are Blogs So Popular?

In recent years, the blog format has very much taken over from the 'personal home page'. People seem to find it much easier to just put a kind of public diary online, instead of putting up a little biography of themselves and a collection of articles. It's more personal, more fun, and more interactive day-to-day.

Businesses have started to open blogs too – in many ways, they're like a replacement for newsletters. A regularly-updated blog gives customers a great sense of what a business is like, while giving the business a great way to keep communicating with its customers and being useful to them, even when they're not buying anything right this minute.

In my opinion, the biggest reason for blogs' popularity is that they make publishing to the web very easy. You don't really have to know anything about what's happening behind the scenes: blogs finally make publishing your thoughts for everyone to see as easy as posting to a forum or sending an email. In a way, blogs fulfil the original promise of the web.

Weblog Software.

Today, there's a lot of blog software out there – if you want a blog, you're spoiled for choice. What you get will depend on how comfortable you are with technical stuff, and whether you want it to be part of your main website or not.

Movable Type. This is software that you install on your web server. You simply log in and type your post, and it creates your pages for you. Movable Type can be a little complex to set up, but you can use a version called Typepad that is hosted by its creators instead of using your server.

Blogger. You don't install Blogger on your server – instead, you give it your FTP password and let it upload files to your web server for you. If you don't have any hosting, you can also host blogs for free at Blogger's Blogspot. Blogger is owned by Google.

WordPress. WordPress is a free alternative to blogging software. It works in basically the same way as Movable Type, but without the restrictive licensing and with nicer-looking default templates. Many people have switched to WordPress out of frustration with Movable Type and not looked back. You have to host it on your own server, but it's very simple to set up – don't be scared!

LiveJournal. LiveJournal is a completely online service, meaning that it has nothing to do with your website, except that you can link to your LiveJournal if you want. LiveJournal is more social than most blogging, allowing you to join communities relating to your interest.

There are plenty of other online services, but they're all pretty much the same: MSN Spaces, AOL Journals, and so on. You're unlikely to get taken very seriously if you have a blog at any of these places, although it'd be easy. In the end, it's all about power versus convenience: the more work you put in to get your blog working, the more likely that it's going to be what you really wanted it to be. If you're creating a website anyway, you'd be silly not to put a blog on it.

Article Source: http://www.articles-galore.com

Wednesday, May 03, 2006

What You Did Wrong With Your Domain Names!

Author: Mark Kessler

Trying to improve search engine rankings is just like a rubics cube. A puzzle that can keep you occupied for hours. How many times have you heard "They keep changing the rules?," and the frustrating part is...they don't even tell you what the rules are in the first place!

It's a proven fact, in trying to improve search engine rankings, that growing your site thru link popularity, by slowly acquiring incoming quality links, adding small amounts of fresh relevant content on a regular basis, using proper keyword density and placement, along with making your site "sticky" so your visitor's stay longer.

But now, there's something else that you have to know about! (and this is a big but!)

Google is starting to weigh in heavy on domain names. Not what your domain is, or how long you've had it. Google wants to know how long you plan on keeping it, as in, how long is it registered for!

They've begun NOT giving as much consideration to domains registered for just a year, thinking they might be spammers, making a quick hit and then they're out of here. If they see you're registered for 5 years, then you must be a serious business that has planned on being around for quite a long time.

I live about a five iron outside of DC and made my living on the radio. Helen Thomas, one of the all-time great White House correspondents, would always be chosen by President Reagan to ask questions at press conferences. Here's why:..She found out that the President had a fondness for the color red. So, Helen started wearing a red blazer to press conferences and he would always pick her out of a press room packed with other reporters.

So, in other words... put a red blazer on your web site, drop 50 bucks registering your domain name for several years and show Google, along with other search engines, you are serious about sticking around and wanting to improve search engine rankings.

Mark Kessler is the author of "Search Engine Tantra - The Path To Heightened Rankings!" A 7 part FREE mini-course. His web site, http://www.toptenoptimizer.com provides a wealth of information and resources to increase link popularity and improve search engine rankings.

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Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Establishing Web Credibility:Stoney deGeyter

When doing business online your credibility will play a significant role in how much business you can get and how successful you can be. Just like any brick and mortar store, losing credibility with your online business can be disastrous for business.

In general, people are even more skeptical when it comes to doing business online. Perhaps it’s because you don’t have the face-to-face contact that shoppers are accustomed to when buying offline. Or it might be due to a distrust of what will happen once you punch in your credit card information and hit the “send” button.

There are a number of reasons why people are distrustful of stores offline and online, but that sense is often heightened when shopping on the web. That makes it ever more important to go out of your way to create a sense of trust and credibility to your online visitors.

Recently, Stanford published their top 10 guidelines to establishing web credibility. While the official lock of credibility won’t occur in your visitor’s minds until they have successfully performed a business transaction, there are several things that you can do to bolster your credibility to get your visitors to take that first step at becoming a long-term customer.

Make it easy to verify the accuracy of the information on your site.

"You can build web site credibility by providing third-party support (citations, references, source material) for information you present, especially if you link to this evidence. Even if people don’t follow these links, you’ve shown confidence in your material."

Aside from typical marketing jargon such as “We offer the most effective” or “We provide the highest quality…”, which are often subjective, citing references and resources backing up any statistics or claims you’re making is extremely important. If you can back up your marketing jargon with a third party source that confirms what you claim, all the better, but if you’re going to cite a statistic or quote an authority, you’ll enhance your credibility if you link to another published account of what it is you are referring to.

But be careful which sources you site or link to. Many times you’ll find sources that are merely quoting other sources, who might also be two or three tiers away from the original source. By then, something might have gotten lost in the translation. Do your best to go back and find the original source of the material.

Short of finding that original source, find the one that is most credible. Don’t link to some Joe’s website that cited a source from someone else, when you can link to a more authoritative source, even if they are merely repeating information themselves.

Don’t forget that often times you can be your own best source. If you are talking about how satisfied your customers are, link to a testimonial page on your site. If you make the point of how well your product or service does, link to another page that backs that up with your own research. Whatever you do, don’t make up your testimonials or research. Most visitors can see right through that. It’s also not a good idea to try to convince shoppers how good your product or service is without being able to provide actual references to back up your claims. Using the guise of confidentiality or anonymity is weak at best and transparent at worst. Again, you either have people and results that will back up your claims or you don’t.

The more of this evidence you can provide the better and more credible you will be in the eyes of your visitors. But don’t go overboard either, by thinking you have to link to every possible resource that you mention. This can lead to a convoluted site that loses its focus and ability to sell. Make sure your references help you make the sale, not hinder it.

Show that there’s a real organization behind your site.

"Showing that your web site is for a legitimate organization will boost the site’s credibility. The easiest way to do this is by listing a physical address. Other features can also help, such as posting a photo of your offices or listing a membership with the chamber of commerce."

Showing that your organization is legitimate goes right to credibility. There are several things that you can do to establish the legitimacy of your company.

Posting Contact Information: Make sure your site contains as much contact information you can provide. Phone, email, physical address, fax, etc. Many businesses rely on contact forms and forgo the written contact information. This is a mistake. They more ways a visitor can contact you the better off you’ll be in establishing that you are a legitimate company. On the flip side of that, don’t post personal addresses, phone numbers or cell phone numbers, as that will give the impression that you’re a mom and pop shop that might not be able to be reached during normal business hours. Even if you can’t, you don’t want to advertise that fact.

Professional Affiliations: Letting people know of the organizations you belong to such as Chamber of Commerce or Better Business Bureau can go a long way to giving your visitors comfort about your business. If you’re not a member of either, I recommend that you become one. The BBB in particular allows you to place a logo and link on your site so visitors can view your BBB profile. People trust the BBB, and while membership has its price, the credibility it provides your business is definitely worth the fee.

Articles: Writing and distributing articles about your industry on line (and including a link to your website) is a great confidence builder. If your visitors see that your information has been published in online ezines and other industry news or information sources, they can see that your accepted expertise extends to others in the industry, and is not just part of an on-site smoke and mirrors campaign.

Answering Phones and E-Mail: Nothing destroys credibility faster than phone messages or emails going un-returned. If you wait even a day to respond to a phone call or email chances are the inquiry has already been answered by a competitor and the sale decision already sealed. Having a live person answer the phone does wonders as well, rather than allowing the phone to go to voice mail. Even one-man, part time businesses can portray a significant amount of credibility along these lines by hiring an answering service to take messages. But again, every chance you get, return those calls.

The first step to making a sale is to convey confidence in your organization. Let people know you are a legitimate business intent on meeting their every need quickly, efficiently and professionally.

Highlight the expertise in your organization and in the content and services you provide.

"Do you have experts on your team? Are your contributors or service providers authorities? Be sure to give their credentials. Are you affiliated with a respected organization? Make that clear. Conversely, don’t link to outside sites that are not credible. Your site becomes less credible by association."

What makes you different from your competitors? Is it just lower prices, or do you have something substantially unique to offer? Experience and knowledge often translates to additional value for your customers. If you got it, flaunt it! Let your visitors know why they should do business with you rather than your competition.

It’s important to allow your visitors to get comfortable with you and your team. People are more apt to buy from those whom they are more familiar with, even if a competitor seems to have a better offering. You can build this kind of trust by adding bios to your about us pages, talking about your self and your interests and pointing out the organizations you belong or participate in. You can also talk about your particular experience in your industry, detailing where you have particular expertise and demonstrating your accomplishments.

Be careful who you link out to. While linking to other reputable sites and services is a positive, linking out to non-credible websites can easily destroy the perception of credibility. You should only link out to sites that you feel provide a substantial benefit to your visitors. If you’re just building a link directory for the sake of a link directory, reconsider. Your reputation can be at stake.

In all, you want to “put your best face forward”, showing your visitors you have the knowledge and credentials to provide them the quality and results they expect.

Show that honest and trustworthy people stand behind your site.

"The first part of this guideline is to show there are real people behind the site and in the organization. Next, find a way to convey their trustworthiness through images or text. For example, some sites post employee bios that tell about family or hobbies."

This is probably one of the most difficult tasks in establishing credibility. Anybody can talk a good game and even be knowledgeable in the product or service, but actions–and results–speak a lot louder than words on the web. Unfortunately, new visitors to your site do not have your past actions to take into account, only what you tell them about your past actions.

This is where you need to humanize yourself and your staff. I’m not going to tell you to take a staff picture with a dog and put that on your website, but there is a reason why companies do this. People like dogs and the dog humanizes the staff and makes them appear to be kinder, gentler, and more genuine.

People want to feel a connection in order to do business. Without getting into the realm of unprofessional, you can use bios to talk briefly about your family, your interests and your hobbies, but use that information to bring people back to why you do what you do.

Your readers may find that they have something in common with you such as number of kids, enjoyments, interests or hobbies. This can help them make that connection to you in that there is something more here than a person out to make a quick buck at their expense. If your visitors can be made to feel like you’re like them, then they are more apt to spend their money with you than some other faceless, nameless person or organization.

Make it easy to contact you.

"A simple way to boost your site’s credibility is by making your contact information clear: phone number, physical address, and email address."

This is a pet peeve of mine: going to a website and not finding usable contact information. Using web forms on your site is a great way to gather information, but you really need more than that to be credible. You should give your visitors multiple ways to contact you. Phone number, physical address and email address are all necessary. I suggest that you make your phone number visible on every page. Getting a toll free number is a great help at looking legit as well as it let’s visitors know that you’re willing to give a little to get a little.

When it comes to ecommerce sites, I personally won’t buy from a store that does not have visible contact information. With so many less than reputable stores on the internet, I often won’t purchase from a store until I have talked with someone via email or phone. If this information isn’t readily available, many purchases will be made elsewhere.

Design your site so it looks professional (or is appropriate for your purpose).

"We find that people quickly evaluate a site by visual design alone. When designing your site, pay attention to layout, typography, images, consistency issues, and more. Of course, not all sites gain credibility by looking like IBM.com. The visual design should match the site’s purpose."

I’ve written about this extensively in my EMP Book. For many industries, it’s OK to have a mom and pop feel to your website, but in no case should you have a website that looks circa 1992. As the look of the average website has improved significantly over the past few years, web users are expecting more from site’s they do business with. If your site looks like something that was thrown up on a shoestring budget, you’re not giving your visitors much confidence in how you run your business.

You need to look at your competitor’s websites. If your site cannot match or surpass them in appearance then you need to consider a re-design. It’s tricky though, because much of that is subjective. Usually, though, you can easily tell when not much effort, or thought, was put into the design of a website.

While a more professional looking site may be in order, don’t go overboard. Different industries require different styles. Again, check out what your competitors are doing and if there is an overall consistency of tone, you might want to try to find a similar tone with your site. In other words, don’t go corporate when your competitors are going artsy. Don’t go mom and pop when your competitors are going high tech. Don’t create an overly busy website when your competitors have opted for simplicity. But also, don’t trust your competitors to always make the best decisions.

You know your audience, do what is right for them, but by all means, give them a site worth looking at and doing business with. If your site has not undergone a major re-design in the past few years, it’s probably time to get one underway. Even a minor facelift can do wonders to improving the appearance of your site.

Make your site easy to use — and useful.

"We’re squeezing two guidelines into one here. Our research shows that sites win credibility points by being both easy to use and useful. Some site operators forget about users when they cater to their own company’s ego or try to show the dazzling things they can do with web technology."

How do you make your site easy to use? Clear, concise and consistent navigational elements.

It is important to let your visitors know where they are on your site and how to quickly navigate to where they want to be, or where they need to click to get what they want. There are a few very easy things you can do to accomplish this:

Breadcrumbs: While most users do not utilize breadcrumbs as a navigational element, the simple presence of these allows the visitor to know exactly what page they are on and how deep into the site. They also provide a one click option to get to each backward level of your site.

Contextual Links: Don’t rely on your main right, left or top navigation to get your visitors from point A to point B. While these are an important part of your site, using links within the text body of your website helps drive visitors to areas of the site which interest them, or to take the course of action you desire.

Calls to Action: Whether it be contextual links or obvious image that say “click here to…”, calls to action let your visitors know where they need to go to get the information they need.

Consistent Navigation: Sites where the main navigation changes location from page to page often confuse their visitors. Confused visitors leave. They don’t have time to “figure out” your site, they can just as easily find another site where the navigation is intuitive to helping them find what they need. Make it easy for your visitors as they flow from one page to the next.

The other issue here is to make your site useful. This is relatively easy to accomplish, especially for those who know their stuff. If you’re trying to sell a product, don’t just offer that product, but provide information that will help the visitor see why they should purchase this product, and why they should purchase it from you.

Providing extra information including features and benefits of your product will help users make the decision to buy. Adding information such as pricing comparisons, warranties, and quality customer service helps users realize why they should purchase from you.

A useful site is a site buyers will return to time and time again. Maybe you attract them with the information as they do their research. Maybe they don’t buy from you today, but if your site is one that provides them information that helps them make their decision, you’ll be the first site on their mind when they are ready to purchase.

Update your site’s content often (at least show it’s been reviewed recently).

"People assign more credibility to sites that show they have been recently updated or reviewed."

Have you ever been to a website and you could tell the content was old and stale? Maybe it wasn’t obvious right away, but as you browse through the site you begin to see things that perhaps don’t align with other things touted on the website. Or maybe you see a “Valentine’s Day Special” still hanging around a weeks after Valentine’s Day.

Small thinks like this can really turn visitors off. On the less obvious stuff you have a bit more leeway–until someone actually recognizes the contradictions–but on the obvious stuff, it can be a clear sign that you’re not paying attention, leaving a potential customer wondering what kind of care or service they’ll get from you.

Sure, you can make the argument that you’re too busy working for your customers to worry about the small details on your own site like that, but then that’s assuming you get the opportunity to make that argument. The potential customer might have already bolted from your site.

Something else you often see on sites is a “page last updated” blurb with the date. Things like these tend only to be important for sites where information frequently gets dated fast. For commercial sites this can be handy if you need to highlight new products added, but generally there are better ways to do that. The best thing to do is to simply make sure that your content remains current and relevant to your products or services.

Use restraint with any promotional content (e.g., ads, offers).

"If possible, avoid having ads on your site. If you must have ads, clearly distinguish the sponsored content from your own. Avoid pop-up ads, unless you don’t mind annoying users and losing credibility. As for writing style, try to be clear, direct, and sincere."

Let’s set the distinction here between commercial sites and informational sites. Ads on informational sites and blogs are fine and a great way to create an additional source of income. Of course, this only goes so far. Even informational sites can lose their credibility if you have too many ads or utilize annoying popup/popunder windows.

On commercial sites, displaying ads that sell similar or competing products/services or directs visitors elsewhere to get what they came looking for, is just plain silly and a terrible marketing strategy. You might get a small stream of “additional” income from these ads, but undoubtedly it will be at your own expense in the long run.

Commercial sites should be focused on selling one thing… your own products or services. Anything on the site that pulls visitors away or interferes with that selling process is a bad marketing strategy that will inhibit your own ability to “sell” your visitors on what you offer.

When writing content for your site, be sure to keep your target audience in mind. If you customers are more technologically savvy or highly educated, then write accordingly. If your audience is the average John or Jane Doe Consumer, then write toward them. Whatever you do, don’t write above your audiences head, and don’t talk down to them either. While you won’t be able to please everybody, knowing your primary target audience will ensure that you are not insulting the larger percentage of your audience.

You also want to be clear about what you offer. Don’t write to try and keep your visitors in suspense about what your product or service is. If it’s appropriate, you can use sales jargon that enhances the anticipation, but don’t string it out for too long, otherwise your visitors will tire of seeking the payoff and go look for your product or service somewhere else.

The best sites are those that are informative, professional and don’t resort to gimmicky content or designs. The bottom line is that you should treat your visitors as you would want to be treated.

Avoid errors of all types, no matter how small they seem.

"Typographical errors and broken links hurt a site’s credibility more than most people imagine. It’s also important to keep your site up and running."

We all make mistakes. The worst are the little things that are often overlooked but easily correctable. Before publishing new content on your website, take a few extra minutes to run the content through a spell check program. Even if you’ve made only a few minor edits, don’t assume that you don’t need to double check your work.

Just like any other form of medium, it’s best to get a third party to proof read your site’s content. Undoubtedly, they’ll find something you missed even after several proof reads of your own.

Aside from spelling and grammar, you should check your site regularly for broken links. Allowing visitors to find broken links on your site is just another way of letting them know that your site is outdated or that you might not have the proper infrastructure to handle their needs. This is as good of a reason as any to leave and purchase from a competitor instead.

Regularly check your site for broken links. There are plenty of online tools that will spider your site and give you a broken link report quickly. Even if you have not made changes to your site in a while, running a broken link check will identify links to external pages which may have changed or been relocated. Regular checks will ensure that all links, both internal and external, are completely functional.

When it comes to credibility, you can’t have too much of it. Like trust, credibility takes time to earn but can be lost with the smallest of errors. Do your best to create a website that speaks to your visitor’s needs and gives them a good user experience. Credibility won’t come instantaneously, but the more you provide to enhance that the more business you’ll be able to generate.

Monday, April 24, 2006

Wholesale Drop Shipping

Hard facts and insights from an experienced drop shipper that will help any entrepreneur whether they are just beginning or a seasoned veteran.

True drop shipping is defined by only three (3) players.

1- The CONSUMER who is the final purchaser of the product

2- The RETAILER who markets, advertises and accepts payment for the product from the consumer.

3- The DROP SHIPPER who ships the product for the retailer to the consumer.

Let's look at each player. We will assume that we all know the consumer but retailers take many forms. Some are brick and mortar stores or catalog companies and others are internet based.

Retailers bear the expense, time and creativity to show, market, advertise, price, sell and collect payment for a product. Upon selling and collecting payment for an item, the retailer then sends an order for the item to the drop shipper and the drop shipper ships the item to the consumer. The drop shipper collects the wholesale price payment from the retailer.

Drop shippers generally have no relationship or contact with the consumer other than shipping the merchandise. Sometimes a product may be shipped with the retailers name on it. This is called private labeling. There can be numerous variables and special arrangements between the retailer and the drop shipper. Visually the basic relationship in drop shipping is a triangular one.

Retailers should look for products to sell that are direct from the factory or as close to factory direct as they can possibly get. Just one middleman can cause the final retail price to be too high. Today the consumer is able to price compare with great efficiency and speed. The retail price can make or break the retailer with that same speed and efficiency.

Retailers should most definitely look for products that are unique. Not cutesy unique but truly unique as in rare or 1 of a kind. This sets you apart from other retailers and allows you to markup your item for a greater profit. I know this is a tough one to research but it is the most important part of retailing today. Just look around you, everyone seems to be selling the same things ! You may spend more time on this than any other aspect of drop shipping but you are mining for gold. When you find that unique manufacturer with truly unique products then you can begin to file your gold claim.

Look for drop shippers who have a 100% satisfaction guarantee with money back. Look for drop shippers who are comfortable working with a retailer of your size and position. Look for drop shippers who have a firm grasp of their inventory and who can always ship what you sell. Look for drop shippers who are responsive and eager to work with you.

Look out for drop shippers that pass themselves off as manufacturers when they are a 2nd or 3rd tier middleman. Do some research about the company and know with whom you are dealing. Markets are too efficient to support many markups and you will not be competitive with your prices. Look out for drop shippers who are vague about inventory and shipping times.

Finding a good drop shipper is a lot like finding a marriage partner. You need good compatibility, good communications and someone who cares about you.

Good luck !

Wholesale Drop Shipping : Biz online

By: jim hoyle

Hard facts and insights from an experienced drop shipper that will help any entrepreneur whether they are just beginning or a seasoned veteran.

True drop shipping is defined by only three (3) players.

1- The CONSUMER who is the final purchaser of the product

2- The RETAILER who markets, advertises and accepts payment for the product from the consumer.

3- The DROP SHIPPER who ships the product for the retailer to the consumer.

Let's look at each player. We will assume that we all know the consumer but retailers take many forms. Some are brick and mortar stores or catalog companies and others are internet based.

Retailers bear the expense, time and creativity to show, market, advertise, price, sell and collect payment for a product. Upon selling and collecting payment for an item, the retailer then sends an order for the item to the drop shipper and the drop shipper ships the item to the consumer. The drop shipper collects the wholesale price payment from the retailer.

Drop shippers generally have no relationship or contact with the consumer other than shipping the merchandise. Sometimes a product may be shipped with the retailers name on it. This is called private labeling. There can be numerous variables and special arrangements between the retailer and the drop shipper. Visually the basic relationship in drop shipping is a triangular one.

Retailers should look for products to sell that are direct from the factory or as close to factory direct as they can possibly get. Just one middleman can cause the final retail price to be too high. Today the consumer is able to price compare with great efficiency and speed. The retail price can make or break the retailer with that same speed and efficiency.

Retailers should most definitely look for products that are unique. Not cutesy unique but truly unique as in rare or 1 of a kind. This sets you apart from other retailers and allows you to markup your item for a greater profit. I know this is a tough one to research but it is the most important part of retailing today. Just look around you, everyone seems to be selling the same things ! You may spend more time on this than any other aspect of drop shipping but you are mining for gold. When you find that unique manufacturer with truly unique products then you can begin to file your gold claim.

Look for drop shippers who have a 100% satisfaction guarantee with money back. Look for drop shippers who are comfortable working with a retailer of your size and position. Look for drop shippers who have a firm grasp of their inventory and who can always ship what you sell. Look for drop shippers who are responsive and eager to work with you.

Look out for drop shippers that pass themselves off as manufacturers when they are a 2nd or 3rd tier middleman. Do some research about the company and know with whom you are dealing. Markets are too efficient to support many markups and you will not be competitive with your prices. Look out for drop shippers who are vague about inventory and shipping times.

Finding a good drop shipper is a lot like finding a marriage partner. You need good compatibility, good communications and someone who cares about you.

Good luck !

- Jim Hoyle

Article Source: http://www.articles-galore.com

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Pick The Right E-Commerce Pack And Put Your Business On Fire

By: Juhani Tontti

1. Businesses need powerful and quick technology and marketing in order for e-commerce to be successful. The objective is to grow your business by making it easier for customers to shop, and if your website’s lack of technology and marketing make it difficult for them, they may as well drive to the supermarket.

2. Before looking at e-commerce solutions, we must first speak about some typical problems of e-commerce. There are many complaints from customers, who have purchased articles online.

There are disorganized sites that are difficult and confusing to navigate; lack of information on the websites including failure to tell customers about special deals or prices.

The inability to pay with the customer’s own currency or payment processor, the inability for the customer to even understand the language in which the websiteis written; and frustrating and confusing shopping carts and check out procedures.

3. What are some e-commerce solutions? Having a professional looking website will attract customers and make them feel confident in buying.

You want your websiteto be organized, quick and easy to navigate, and if you have an informational website, which is search engine friendly; presents special deals; encourages up selling in a customer-friendly way (such as showing related items or showing items that customers purchased, who also purchased the item you are purchasing); is accessible in the major languages and accepts major currencies; has a user friendly shopping cart and single page checkout, then you won’t need many e-commerce solutions!

Remember, when your business is e-commerce, you want to take all possible steps to make sure you and your product are presented professionally, friendly, and easily accessible.

4. Recovering from the dot com crash in 2000, e-commerce is rising strongly. Stay in the comfort of your home. Spend more time with your family. Be your own boss. The benefits of having a home business are numerous. These are familiar slogans.

That is why so many people try to run their own home business. Being enthusiastic about earning their own income online, these people search to find how they can create their own business. And their own diciplines.

Then they understand that there are so many options for them to choose from. So, what is the best e-commerce package for you?
Talking about e-commerce packages, most online merchants
have the same basic needs. The trick is to make sure an e-commerce package matches your needs. Causing less frustration, you should also try to find something that will be easy to use.

5. Some important things to look for in an e-commerce package are:

A. Select a provider that will give you a site and hosting company.

Selecting a provider that helps you set up a website and hosts it for you can save you from a lot of frustration. By choosing a website and hosting combination, you are sure that your e-commerce package will not have to be manually altered.

B. A lot of templates

While all templates can be customized, sometimes that just does not work for every business. If there is a large amount of templates to pick from, there is bound to be template for your business.

C. Payments

You need to make sure that the payment options that your e-commerce package uses will match your customers needs. For example if your e-commerce package only accepts Paypal, you will miss out on the customers that do not use Paypal but want to pay with credit card. This will decrease your earnings.

D. Shopping cart

Most people like to see what they have picked into the shopping cart. Customers may also want to change what they want to buy. Perhaps they found something better.

E. Calculation of tax and shipping costs

While most of the customers are not from your own state, tax is not a major problem. Shipping is a different matter. Shipping and shipping time must be calculated for all customers. Customers also want to see what their shipping costs will be.

F. Customer reports

While reports are not useful to customers, they are useful for you. E-commerce packages that offer reports help you track of your costs and earnings. They save a lot of frustration.

Monday, April 17, 2006

Search Engines and Consumer Behavior

"Effort only fully releases its reward after a person refuses to quit."
- Napoleon Hill

When web sites are developed with an e-commerce system they typically do not have unique names for each page, if they are using dynamic solutions. Other solutions require creating web pages that promote the products placed on that page; and, again they don't have the name of the individual products. These solutions don't help much for various reasons.

Search Engine Results

When people begin searching, they typically start with broad scopes such as televisions. On Google alone there are 2,490,000 returned results. As the searcher begins to focus upon the product they want, the result list dwindles. For example, the search for plasma televisions returns 658,000. Now, we add RCA to the mix and the list becomes more reasonable with 89,600 results.

Now, some exciting things begin to happen as we improve our search. Using rca plasma televisions PHD50500 the list is now down to 246. There are five page titles returned that include the model number in their title. That announces those sites offer exactly what we're looking for.

As you notice the number of returned sites became much more manageable and easier to compete with. Individuals seeking your products by name, model number, or other specifics your chance of being on the first page increases. You can't afford to have a less performing site.

Consumer Behavior During Searching

When searchers begin to search they often start as we did above. They typically click on the top three listings, but more often than not don't purchase from those results. As searchers improve their likelihood of purchasing increases and the number of links they click through increases.

By acquiring more results on the first page of the search engine results are owned by a single site the searcher begins to realize the company actually offers what they seek. This improves your chances of connecting with the consumer. Not all e-commerce solutions can achieve this.

When sites are limited to a short list of possible keywords, the likelihood of the site being visited decreases. If a small set of keywords generates a 1000 visits with no purchases there is something definitely wrong. Some think it is the list of keywords chosen. That can be part of the problem, but as the number of possible searches increases the chances of purchases increases.

Since some businesses do not have the capital to have a properly developed e-commerce solution, their chances of competing with the companies that have those deep pockets. Instead of letting the small business be pushed off the Internet the Apple Pie Shopping Cart was developed to meet the demand and help small business owners compete.

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

The Techniques of Cross Promotion : Site Promotion

Cross promotions are not a new idea. They have been used by businesses for a very long time. For example, a real-estate company may promote a certain lawyer to close a sale, as the lawyer will promote that agency in his firm. A client may receive a booklet for free carwashes when they buy a new car and the car wash puts up posters of the new models of cars that dealer has available.

The system is somewhat similar to the primitive barter system, where people traded items rather than using money. How can anything primitive fit into the online world of Internet marketing? Very easily. Cross promotions are, simply stated, a trade of advertisingspace. Instead of paying for advertising space on a site, you would place their ad on your page and yours on theirs.

There are many ways to use cross promotions in your internet business that can be an effective and cost efficient way to advertise.

One way is to use link exchanges. This is very effective when doing cross promotions with a company that is similar to yours, however you should be sure and never link to a page that is in direct competition with yours.

One of the best things about link exchanges is that some search engines are factoring in hits from the sites that are linked to your page to when determining the ranking. Therefore linking to a more popular site, can not only increase your advertising, and traffic, but also increase your search engine ranking.

When customers or potential customers subscribe to your ezineyou can use this as an opportunity to use cross promotions. On the same page that the customer subscribes to your ezine, make available the opportunity to subscribe to another company’s ezine. You can even exchange ad space in ezines, and provide recommendations for those whom you cross promote with. You might even want to exchange column space in one another’s ezines.

Writing free articles that inform customers or potential customers with information that is useful
and accurate can create a reputation for you and your business. Soon readers will come to know you as an expert on the subject. In these articles the author uses a byline to help promote his site. Bylines can be a way to use cross promotions as well. You can use part of the space in your byline to recommend another’s product.

If you have been considering writing an ebook, a joint venture could mean increased profits for you and the person you are partnering with. Cross promotions through ebooks are an excellent way to allow for a wider topic and to promote both your business and your partner’s business. The ebook should contain information that will benefit both businesses and still be helpful to the reader.

A good example of using cross promotions through an ebook is to a site selling used video games partnering with a site selling gaming devices. These are two subjects that would interest the same reader and most likely lead the reader to both sites.

You should keep in mind that the recommendations that you make are a direct reflection of you, so choose your cross promotional businesses carefully. Know the person and the products reputation before you consider putting your company’s good name to theirs.

Also keep in mind that it would be nice as a shopper to be able to link from one site to another as a way to “shop around.“ Since this is usually not beneficial to you, never link or recommend a site that is in direct competition with you. Instead, recommend those who are similar, such as health and life insurance. If you ave a jewelry site you could link with a clothing site.

You can also cross promote yourself if you have several products or services that you offer. For instance you can offer a free ebook when the customer buys your software or service. You could offer an upgrade with the purchase of a certain product.

Remember your goal is to make sales for yourself and the best way to do it is to gain your customers confidence. This will go a long way towards your success.

Monday, April 10, 2006

SEO-Tutorial : Where can I place keywords in an all-graphical page?

Q. My boss has a gigantic head and has spent $50,000 for an all-graphical home page. Will it help if we place keyword phrases in [alt tags] [comments tags] [a hidden layer] [text the same color as the background at the bottom of the page]?

A. I'm afraid that using keyword phrases in any of those places won't help get your home page found in the search engines. Alt attributes (alt tags) are ignored on images that are not clickable, o those won't help. Comment tags have nothing to do with search engine optimization, and are not indexed by the spiders, so don't bother with those either.

Hidden layers may actually help, but would most likely be considered spam by the search engines unless the content in them is exactly the same as on the graphical images on the site. If you simply hide keyword phrases in a hidden layer, be sure to look over your shoulder constantly, because your paranoia about one day getting penalized isn't all that paranoid; it could very well happen! If you like to sleep at night, this may not be the best route for you to take.

Your alternatives are to simply use the power of your Title tag and the power of the links pointing to your home page. You could also concentrate more on the inner pages (assuming they are not all graphical) and optimize them for the keyword phrases that are important to you.

Don't forget that you can always just use PPC ads and not worry about the organic/natural results. That is a very real option these days, and for those not willing to compromise a wee bit to gain natural rankings, it's probably the best one.

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION: 6 Most Important Steps:

Here are 6 most important in Search Engine Optimization, Ranking, Placement and Promotion...
  1. Evaluation of existing website: We will evaluate your existing site for content and programming changes and will run a report of your existing search engine placement and ranking.
  2. Choose keywords and phrases: Once you decide on a web promotion package, we will work with you to determine the one or two phrases that we will focus on in order to effectively optimize your website. Through careful research, we have discovered that the "number" of keywords isn't nearly as essential as "which" keywords are focused on. Our services include determining the best combination of keywords and phrases that are true for your company, are attainable based on the volume of competition in your industry and will result in an increase in your ranking with the search engines. Broad, general keywords do not work well. They give a vague idea of what you're promoting, but they don't tell the visitor why your site is better than your competitors'. Using concise, specific keywords are more likely to bring the type of visitors you want.

    We have found that one or two specific keywords or phrases are the limit to properly optimize the focus of your site. If there is a broad, general nature to your site that can't be summarized in only two keywords or phrases, we do have other options to explore, however, these options are not as effective as choosing one or two keyword phrases and will be much more expensive.
  3. Optimization of the web site: Once your keywords and phrases have been agreed upon, we will optimize your website around those phrases.
  4. Submission to search engines: Included with your package, we will submit your website to over 20,000 websites including search engines, directories and link programs, banner exchange for 3 months.
  5. Follow-up Reports: After 3 months, we will run reports of your current search engine placement and ranking to demonstrate improvement. Most people will see search engine placement and ranking increases within two weeks of implementation, some take up to 10 weeks. It depends on how often the various search engines index their requests. Some search engines index only once every two months, while others index every couple of days or
    weeks.
  6. Maintenance: We conduct on-going research to determine the best way to get top search engine placement and ranking before presenting options to you. We want to assure that you are getting the most for your money. As the search engines change their criteria for placement, it may be necessary to update your site to meet these new requirements. Should this happen, we will update your site for $200.00. You will be notified as we discover any such changes

    Warning About Frames and Flash


    Keep in mind when creating your website that
    search engines have a difficult time indexing webpages with frames. Stay away from frames if at all possible. If you are determined to use frames, Do not use them on your home page, and if possible, leave some other web pages frameless so that they are easy for the search engines to index.
    If your site has a Flash splash screen or Flash on your Home Page, we will need to do additional work to circumvent that at an additional cost. We will inform you of these costs before we begin our website
    optimization process.

    If you are interested in Search Engine Optimization -SEO for your website, please send an email to us for more information. Or use our contact form

Thursday, April 06, 2006

Aiming for a mere $100,000 per year income

By: James Little

You have a good business concept. You know very well that there were many people online wanting to get something that you could offer. And you have a well-design setup websitejust nice for these potential customers. You see the potential of your business site as a great way to profits. You too had a well-designed business sales page, and subscription page too. You are confident your business is going to growing well.

Nevertheless, several months later, you were struggling to maintain just a small base of paying customers. It’s time you ask for help for your online business!

What should you do to revive your business? Any strategic business’s plan? Ideas? Suggestion? Are you getting lost? Here are some of the small little changes that I believe if it’s implemented properly, your business would be able to fire-off:
1. Set your landing page as main priority. Don’t keep sending visitors directly to a sales page. Land them to your subscription page instead.

Don’t get into the belief that you will be losing more sales by doing this. The reality is exactly the opposite. You’ll end-up gaining more business leads! Because you are building a long-term business relationship with your potential customers whom just pop by your site.
2. Don’t be stingy, offer goodies. Give your visitors a free trial.
And then, it could be designed that these free trial membership sign-up be automatically converts into a paid membership if not cancelled. That’s how your business will start to pick up.

This would help you to begin closing far more sales which means more business. Remember this hard, make the payment mode super easy! If they can’t pay you in their convenience, they’ll go somewhere else! It’s true! Even though they might be very eager to get what you got to offer, but if they find it hard to made payment….next minute they’ll go find for substitute.
There are several payment processors who will gladly set this up free for you, or you could just set it up thru DIY! As simple as plug and play. You should try it out with Paypal.
3. Use a strategic follow-up series.

Like most people who had been trying to make a living on the net, you had heard you should have a series “emailcourse” to get people t keep signing up for newsletters. But, did you place within your emailor newsletter with follow-up message in getting turning them into paying customers? Ultimately, what you want is to convert visitors into buyers. That’s your business goal isn’t it?
4. Business Retention Strategy.

I bet YOU! This is one of the most overlooked areas! Yet it’s one of the most important business aspects on your quest in making a living on the net. Once you get a paying customer, it is much easier to keep him than to find a new one to replace him. You have to encourage you own paying customers to hang around for the months to come.

By applying these four little tips which are often overlooked, you are progressing one step forward to reach the mere $100K per year on the net.

Not bad right? You are on the way to defining your own destiny. Kick your boss butt? Not yet, not now yet, only until you reach UP THERE!

Build your business up today.

Article Source: http://www.articles-galore.com